Unloading device for furnaces



z sheets-sheet 1 M. H. DAMERELL.

1mm/mme pEvzE F011 Fummcss F11ed June 16, 1924 Jail. 19 1.926.

Jan. 19, 1926.

' M. H. .DAMERELL vuNLommxG DEVICE Fon Fummcss Filed .June 416 1924 y 2Sheets-Sheet 2v Patented Jan.I 19,' r192e. 11.1v A

MARKV kH.v `Aimrnzrn1-tn'I.I. -Y QF awoltcnsfzriia; MfssAcHu'sETTs,iAssieN'on fro WYMAN- GonnoNcoMrAgNY, or woncns'rna,ivriissnenusnrrs;Aconroaamrouor MASSA- .y pounds of scrap steel shall behandled twice` fUNLoADInG DfEvIcE nonFu'attirons'.V 13. ff

f Be it'knownfthat LMARK` n n e a citizen `of the ,.United States,residing fat Worcester, inthe county ofullfll/orester' and State ofMassachusetts, have "invented anew f and'useful Unloading Device forl?urnajces,V

of which theY followingy 'ist a "specification.V 'I

ThisVV invention relates particularly to 'fur-v .n'a'ces'in whichbillets orfbarsofsteelrarev subjected to "piOlQllgGd heat treatment.; It

is customary to feed', the 'billetssuccessively.

into the'furna'ce at 'one' zend,r thereof some suitable mechanism" suchAasr a mechanical pusher. As each additional' billet is. pushed intothefurnace, it advances the ybilletsalready inthe furnace, causing them tolmake aslow intermittentprogres's. .through the furnace to the fartherend thereof, where.

they may belaterally removed through 'a side opening in the furnaceWall?t .t Y. Y,

These furnacesV arefoften as mucltasthirl ty feet longY andmay containias much` as three'thousandpounds'of steel `at any given time, whilethey are in operation. At the endfof the days run, itis necessary thatvall of the steel in the furnace be removed, as otherwise the*prolongedYexposure tothe heat remaining in thefurnace wallswill cause the steelto'scale and to suffer other injuries, even after thefsupply o fadditional vheatis shutoff. e l y f For clearing the furnace, it haslbeen, customary to eed in a sufficient :numberk of defective -or scrapbillets to'forcejforward all of the ygood billets to theV point wher'elthe heattreatment is completed and where ,L

the goodVY billets may be removed. laterally from the furnace. All ofthese defective 'billets must be thereafter removed. fromthe" furnaceupon the starting of the'next days run. 1 This method of clearing the'furnace thus requires that some three thousand Y l Vide a simple andYconvenient unloading devicefor such furnaces, by means ofv whichVlrcleared of billetsrat theend of. eachfrun.

` In the preferred formthisdeviceis actus" ated bythe usualfpus'hermechanismV and provision is also made forV mechanically Kwithdrawingvthe ldevice and moving theY .i Q-is asimilar view, but

plates,Vv v t;

t.. "Fig-.f `is a fplanviewy of a/second forn`:l V of 1 e ff-Myinventiyn further relates toarrangelarly .pointjedfnout intheappendedvclfaimscf .f

furnace, .with ,improvedv nev loading device ,appliedtheretog funloadingvdevice inlinoperative positiong..

,taken along the/.line 3- -3 inl Fig." l; A 1 nFig. .4'is aplanview ofoneof the pusher --Fig '3,is a transverse sectional elevation,

pusher plate;

platesshowninFigs. 5 andf,

jFiggjT'is 'a side elevation thereof; v

@Fig eis-,anda "viewer eater off-hef? ing the `manner in whichthelunloadingdevice is ,actuated by the pusher bar.;y

'rnents;andcombinations of parts whichwill be hereinafter; Adescribedandbfrnoreparticuf .y

'60 i' [Apreferred form of-the inventien- -Fig.r, ','lslc'a ve'ctiona'l.sidel elevation; of a Y heatv treating j y js5 Showing the Y Fig. `8"'sa plan view of a p1ate; feeding f or pusher head, and i y Fig. 9isagsection'all side elevation,fshowl R ferringto the drawings, I, havecated heaty treating furnace 10 which is y,substantially of the usualtype,'having provision (not shown) for kintroducing highly heated'gas'esati'the left handor discharge endof the vfurnace and' for removing.the.y t somewhat cooler gases at the right Vhand endYiplacedsuccessively' upon aloading platfor'ir'i` 9G f' or'sfupport lland arepushed-intothe fur- L nace' bygap'ushe'r bar 12- actuated.through any', other convenient manner.` `lAsthe bilv.lets advancethrough the furnace, they. are

preferably [supported u'ponfwater cooled l v pipes ortubes 16 until ftheyA approach the dischargeendof thefurnace. y `At this point theypreferably' descend kto as lightly lower supportfthis laction causingrelative' move- L Y l ment between lthe billets so that they-may f thevfurnace may be conveniently andeasily@` fbe freed'fromfeach other ,atthis point. l

i AtV the eXtreme left Vhand or discharge .end of the furnace, the fbillets v areV aligned with an lopening1"?"5inthe sidewall of thef`completed by the time the-billets arrive opposite the opening 17.

The construction thus far described is of the usual type and in itselfforms no part of my invention which relates particularly t0 means forunloading the furnace at the end ofa run. For this purpose I provide aseries of pusher plates 20 linked together by pivots 21. The chain-likestructure thus formed is stored in inoperative position upon suitablesupports 22 above the furnace during the normal operation of thefurnace. At the feeding end of the furnace, thennloading device issupported upon'a pair of sprocket wheels 23 which may beactuated ineither direction by a reversible electric motor 24 connected to saidsprocket wheels through suitable reduction gearingAV The details ofconstructionof the unloading device are clearly shown in Figs. "4 to 7inclusive. The pusherplates 2O are commonly of the form showniin Fig. 5,with an opening 25 in themiddle portion thereof. One or more of theplates whichy form the advance end of the chain are vpreferably of theform shown in Fig.l 4i, Without any opening through Vthe middle portionthereof, and these plates are also preferably made of some specialmaterial which will strongly resist high temperatures. The provision ofthe solid web in these leading plates is specially desirable as theyserve to protect the pipes 16 from the high heat retained in the furnacewalls after the furnace is unloaded.

A pusher head 30 (Fig. '8) is provided for intermittently advancing thepusher plates into the furnace. This pusher head has an opening 31adapted to lit'loosely over the upper end of the pusher bar 12 (F ig. 9)and is reciprocated thereby. The plates 2() and 26 have their pivots sodisposed that the pusher head 30 may freely engage the rear edge of eachplate as it rests upon the loading frame 11. After each plate isadvancedV by the pusher head, the head is Withdrawn and the succeedingplate drops into position lfor engagement by the pusher head. Theunloading device is thus intermittently'advanced through the furnace andpushes the billets remaining in the furnace forward to Vthe dischargeend of the furnace, where they may be laterally removed. After theIfurnace is thus emptied, the unloading device is left in position, inorder to protect the pipes 16 While the furnace is empty.

At the beginning of the next run, the pusher head `30 is removed fromthe pusher bar 12 andthe motor '24 is operatedA to rotate Vthe wheels 23inthe opposite direction,

withdrawing thechain of plates from the furnace and storing it upon' thesupports 22. When the furnace'is to be again unloaded, the motor '24:vis used'to advance the chain to a position where the first Vplate maybe engaged by the pusher head. The ends of adjacent plates abutsquarely, sothat upward movement or buckling of the plates is resisted.

It will thus appear that have provided lan unloading device bywhich thefurnace may be easily emptied of billets' at the end of a run,substantially without manual labor and with a minimum loss of time.

Having described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wishto l be limited to the details offconstructipn herein disclosedotherwise than as'siet ,forth the claims, but what I cl'aimis; A

1- A furnace un1tigaclilfllafA dence Comprising a sectionalstoc'lrengagingmember, and means' t0 advance' Said" inerrber lengthwise of thefurnace and withinithe .same to cleail the furnace of stock, saidmeanseoinprising a reciprocating element effective to separately engagesuccessive s'ections of said stock-engaging member and lto give eachsection th'us engaged a predetermined advance movement into saidfurnace; i' i i 2. A furnace unloading device comprising a stockengaging 'member means to intermittently adi'fancesaidV memberlengthwise of the furnace and within the saine to clear the furnace ofstock, and Yadditional separate means to withdraw said member to1inoperative position.'

3. `.A furnace unloading device comprising a series of pusher platespiyotally connected together, means to advance said series of platesinto the furnace, 'and guide-ways said furnace for said plates, saidguideways being coveredand protected by said plates ,when thelatter arepositioned within the'furnace.v l i et. A furnace unloading devicecomprising a series of pusher'plates pivotally connected together, meansto advance said series of platesto operative position, andadditional'm'eans to advance said ,plates into the furnace. i

5. Ina furnace, a pusher bar, an unloading device comprising a series ofpusher plates, and a pusher head fitting saidbar andreciprocated'ther'eby to intermittently advance said plates.

6. A furnace unloading device comprising a series of pusher plates pivotally connected togetherpmeans to advance' said series of platesintermittently into the ,furnace, and a guide-Way to support said.pla-tes in inoperative position above Vsaid furnace said guide-waybeing mounted on and firmly secur'ed tosaid furnace in permanent fixedrelation thereto.

4In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

MARK DAMERELL.

